"Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth... I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for."

July 4, 1939 at Yankee Stadium - how tragically ironic that baseball's ironman had his career, and indeed his life, cut short by such a cruel, dehabilitating disease. Yet no player before or since has exited the game with such dignity and grace as the man whose name became synonymous with the illness itself, Lou Gehrig. This incredible poster features the emotional Independence Day ceremony at home plate in The Bronx, when his teammates, opponents, and hundreds of thousands of fans in the stands and across the nation on the radio paid tribute to "The Iron Horse" upon his departure from the game. He lived only two more years, but his legacy has never been forgotten - and was especially apparent back in 1995, when Cal Ripken Jr. surpassed his consecutive games record with the class and style that Gehrig would certainly have approved of.

A beautiful black-and-white classic from the vast Bettmann/CORBIS photographic archive, this image puts you right at the center of the emotional ceremony that day. It's all here: the emcee speaking into the vintage public address and radio microphones; Yankee teammates including Joe Gordon, Frankie Crosetti, Joe DiMaggio, Charlie Keller, Bill Dickey, Red Ruffing and Lefty Gomez; the old Yankee Stadium right field bleachers, scoreboard, flagpole, and buildings beyond the fence; the opposing Washington Senators players; a contingent of military men honoring America and an American hero; and Gehrig himself, looking sad but dignified as he accepts accolades, gifts, and awards for his 17 years of brilliance in Yankee pinstripes. A SportsPosterWarehouse.com exclusive, this poster is printed direct from the original photographic source, and includes logos from baseball's Cooperstown Collection and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and is affixed with an MLB authentic serialized hologram. A brilliant piece of Americana for your wall, this is the ultimate commemoration of one of the most legendary moments in baseball history!